


good enough

by cmitch819



Category: The Bastards Crew
Genre: Gen, Mechanisms inspired, being crushed to death, idk man i don't use ao3 ever what else am i supposed to put here, not like. graphically described its just what happens to dani
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-10
Updated: 2019-06-10
Packaged: 2020-04-24 06:15:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19167478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cmitch819/pseuds/cmitch819
Summary: It’s the satisfaction of solving an unsolvable puzzle that makes Dani love their job.





	good enough

“You’ve outdone yourself, Dr Brooks!”

Dani twists their face into a practiced smile so that the Olympian will know that their compliment was appreciated. “Thank you, ma’am.”

The two of them are standing in front of the entrance to a tall, thin, spiral of a building. It weaves its way through every formerly unoccupied space in the sublevel, balancing precariously on support struts where there’s space, but oftentimes on nothing at all. Its steel walls touch none of the surrounding buildings--Dani was very careful about that. The buildings and most of the ground already have owners who would gladly draw up a lawsuit over the slightest intrusion onto their property.

The Olympian who hired Dani, Hestia, says it’s going to be used as a hotel of some sort. She’d been wanting to expand her chain and had insisted on using whatever space was available. There had been no space on this level, nothing but a few several-metre-wide squares that poor urban planning had left empty. 

But the space around the buildings? The air itself? No one owns that. It’s the only public property left in the City, and that’s only because the Olympians haven’t figured out how to charge people breathing money just yet.

Now it belongs to Dani. Well, Hestia, technically, but that’s only on paper. This place is Dani’s. They came up with the plans. Against all odds, they saw it built. And now, in a place where the rest of the City said no building could ever stand, there is a twisting sculpture of metal and wire.

Hestia turns to Dani, a wide grin on her face. “You’ll find the rest of the money in your bank account by this evening. Provided this place doesn’t _collapse_ , of course.” She laughs, and it sounds vaguely threatening. Dani bristles. The City seems to be obsessed with underestimating them even when they _clearly_ know what they’re doing.

“You have nothing to worry about,” Dani says. “I believe my reputation speaks for itself.”

“Yes, of course. More than a half dozen contracts under your belt and a 100% success rate.” Hestia shakes her head. “And your career is only just beginning.”

“Yes.” 

Hestia doesn’t seem quite satisfied with Dani’s answer (Dani doesn’t understand why--she was only stating facts), but smiles again after a moment. “I’ll be sure to recommend you to my friends.”

Dani nods, and Hestia and her entourage leave.

The City is never quiet. There are always people on the streets--without a real sun to tell the time by, sleep schedules have shifted dramatically. You can usually hear voices coming from open windows and in between alleyways, and there are always partygoers in the richer sublevels or the homeless in the poorer ones. If, miraculously, you manage to find an empty street, away from the shouting and crowds, then there is still the humming of electricity, the power running from the Acheron through every wire, keeping the City alive. 

No, the City is never quiet, but it can be peaceful.

Dani stares up at their work, following its metal curves as far as they can through the surrounding buildings, almost in a trance. The voices tonight are distant. The humming is its usual volume, but like every other citizen, Dani has learned to tune it out.

They feel their eyelids start to droop as a deep sense of calm overtakes their body. _It’s probably time to head home,_ Dani reflects.

But there’s one last thing they have to do first.

They step towards the door of the building and grasp the handle. It recognizes their fingerprints and unlocks itself.

It’s mostly dark inside. As the door shuts behind them, Dani’s sight relies entirely on the artificial light that drifts in from the windows cut into the sides of the building. It stretches upwards and to the side, a ceiling blocking the rest of the view, and Dani feels like they’re standing at the bottom of some strange kind of chute.

They’ve succeeded again, and not only that, they’ve succeeded on their most difficult project yet. Sure, they’ve also been recognized by an Olympian, but it’s the _work_ that matters. It’s finding that balance, that exact way every piece of metal exists within every bit of open air and meshes with every other part of the design to hold everything else up. It’s the satisfaction of solving an unsolvable puzzle that makes Dani love their job.

The professor who’d told Dani their fanciful imagination would be the end of them, the colleagues who’d refused to work with them after hearing their ambitious ideas, the many, many clients who’d turned down Dani’s first designs for being too dangerous--they were wrong, Dani reminds themself.

They stand alone in the almost-darkness, reveling in the feeling of being good enough. 

It happens so suddenly. Dani has grown to expect success, but they’d always assumed that building collapses would have some sort of trigger--perhaps a door opening, a window suddenly collapsing under pressure, even a hand pressing too hard on an already unstable bit of wall.

But ultimately, Dani never expected a building to collapse while they were in it. Their blueprints might seem impossible and dangerous, but they weren’t stupid--they had safety checks, both during building and afterwards, and all those checks had been passed with flying colours days or weeks in advance. Dani never went in any building unless they were at least 90% sure it was safe, and if said building was one of their own design, that number changed to 99%.

The building _shouldn’t_ have been able to collapse.

After their initial confusion, this is Dani’s first thought when they hear the signature creaking of metal under strain.

Their second thought is _oh, fuck._

As steel and wire and glass come crashing down around them, they never get a chance to think a third thought. There’s sudden, crushing pain all over their body as they’re knocked onto their back, then a sharper pain in their neck that feels much worse, somehow more irreversible than the rest. 

Then there is nothing.  
***  
The pain in Dani’s neck is still there when they wake up. It’s no longer sharp, but it feels _wrong._

Dani blinks against the harsh lights above them. Are they in a hospital? _At least it isn’t the Acheron._ Someone must have found them in time after--

After their latest project collapsed on top of them.

 _Hestia is going to kill me,_ Dani thinks. _I need to get out of here._

They sit up. Their head spins, and they hear a voice to their left. “Whoa, whoa, whoa! Uh- please lie back down! You’ve got a concussion and, er, several other injuries. You’re in no condition to-”

Dani tunes the voice out and lies back down. The doctor, they assume, is probably right. They need to rest, maybe for a couple of days, and then they can escape. They’re lucky to even have survived.

They would like to know what hospital they’re at, though, or at least what sublevel. 

They open their mouth to ask the question.

“Where-”

The sound that comes out of Dani’s mouth sounds nothing like their voice. It’s harsh, mechanical, and the wrong feeling in their neck grates and buzzes as they speak.

No. That can’t have been right. Dani must be--hallucinating or something, some symptom of a concussion. They try again. “Where- I-”

They try to say where am I, but speaking is an effort. It feels like they’re pushing against some kind of mechanism, like their voicebox won’t make a sound unless they say it loud enough. Their neck buzzes again, and the same grating voice comes out. The back of Dani’s throat tastes like metal. Not the metallic taste of blood, not the way it should--it tastes like real metal. It feels hard, solid, in a way it most definitely did not before the collapse.

“Ah,” says the doctor, sounding almost embarrassed. “You were very badly injured, nearly dead when we found you. We had to make some, er, modifications.”

_Modifications._

_Oh,_ Dani tries to say. They don’t say it loud enough, and all that comes out of their mouth is the whistling of air. “Oh,” they say again, louder, and this time their throat buzzes.

They reach their hands up, shaking slightly. “Oh, I, uh, wouldn’t do that just yet-” the doctor begins.

It’s too late. Dani touches the place where their neck should be, and feels only a hollow column of metal and plastic. 

The panic sets in then, although Dani can’t think of a good reason why it should. Their breathing quickens, but their throat doesn’t close up. It’s not their throat anymore, not really. The thought makes Dani spiral further.

“Oh, dear,” the doctor says. “I’m so sorry. It was the only way to save you, uh--?”

Dani shouldn’t be able to get the words out, but they do, in their apparently permanent metal monotone. “Dani. Dani Brooks.”

“It's a pleasure to meet you, Dani. I am Doctor Bishop-Henry Letchford. Welcome aboard.”

Dani frowns, confusion momentarily overtaking their panic. “Aboard?”

“Ah,” Dr Letchford says again. He averts his eyes, looking guilty. “I- we can talk more about that when you've recovered a little more. As your doctor, it’s my duty to make sure you get enough rest!” Dani sees him turn and root around for something in a drawer, muttering under his breath. “No, no, not that- where did Tarsa put the- aha!”

He turns back, something in his hand, and before Dani can react, he plunges it into their arm. “I apologize, Dani, but rest is important, after all!”

 _Sedative._ Dani thinks they should be angry. They feel nothing but relief as the sharp edges of their thoughts begin to dull. Reality has become too difficult to confront.

Their eyes drift shut and the world fades into a gentle darkness.

**Author's Note:**

> next work is going to be actual dani + bastards stuff! specifically dani and tarsa building the maze because dani needs friends and i have so much more i need to write about them.


End file.
